Our summer policy conference is always a great gathering, and part of what makes the Green Party unique. But it’s a little different this year.
For the first time ever, we have Green Party Ministers, who are thriving in their portfolio areas. We are working on issues that @NZGreens and its members have cared about and campaigned on for decades.
We are grabbing this opportunity in any way we can - because the rewards of being in government are too great to sit on our hands and watch the world go up in climate-change induced flames.
We are still government apprentices - but I’m confident that before too long we’ll be master builders.
This is our time to use that influence. But what I want to make clear is that we will be doing it in a way that stays true to who we are as a party.
With that in mind, today I’m announcing two new policies that I think show how @NZGreens will do government better.
We have long thought of ourselves as the champions of open and honest politics. So, we have now decided to extend that philosophy of transparency into our Ministers’ offices.
Starting soon, @JulieAnneGenter, @EugenieSage, @janlogie and I will proactively make public our ministerial diaries every quarter. We think it’s about time New Zealanders know who’s in those meetings and why.
It’s a small but important step to keeping our politics honest, and I’m proud @NZGreens are leading from the front on this.
The second thing I’m announcing today is that @NZGreens MPs, Ministers and staff will not accept corporate hospitality.
It is, quite simply, the purchasing of political power; well, I’m here to say that political power should not be for sale.
Again, this is another small way that we can show that the Green Party is committed to doing government differently, and doing government better.
